Drowning deaths in France spiked by 58% during heat wave, authorities say

PARIS (Reuters) -France's public health authority said on Friday that more than 100 people had died from drowning between June 1 and July 2 this year, an increase of 58% over the same period last year, blaming it on unusually warm weather at the end of June.

Sante Publique, the French authority, said 429 total drownings had occurred in France between June 1 and July 2, an increase of 95% over that period last year.

"These increases occurred in a context of high temperatures in the second half of June 2025, which led to an increase in people going to swimming areas to cool off," the agency said in a bulletin.

Large swaths of Europe, including France, sweltered over a 10-day heatwave ending July 2. Scientists said 2,300 people died of heat-related causes across 12 European cities during the extreme weather.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )